rncen615

We have Advanced Triage Protocols. They allow us to start treatment when the patient will be waiting more than a few minutes. We can order x-rays, start labwork and even give some meds. This helps us shorten turn around time considerably. Often the whole workup is resulted before the MD sees the patient and the MD can do a MSE and disposition the patient without further delay.

We started faxing report about a year ago. We had an admit team made up of ED nurses, floor nurses and house supervisors to try to resolve the constant problem of trying to call report numerous times before the floor nurse could take the call. We started out with a fax report form that was very tedious. Now we use a brief form with the important information contained in it and also fax our nurses note, MD note and labs, CT reports, admit orders, etc. The form has info about patient family, any valuables, meds given, last vital signs and any other info the floor nurse needs. We fax and call the floor to let them know the fax is coming. Then we give them 30 minutes to call with any questions. If we don't get a call in 30 minutes, the patient goes to the floor. It has worked very well. We still have an occasional problem with them not getting report. ( The fax machine is out of paper or some other technical problem) but we have much better results than before. The only stipulation is that no patient can go up during report time which is 6:45 - 7:15 so we try to get report faxed as soon as we can to avoid this delay at shift change.

We have TVs in every room in our new 28 bed ED. We did not have them in our old ED. They work well to help people pass the time while waitinf for examination, results, etc. Most patients are very happy to see a TV, They are especially good for children who get easily bored sitting in a room waiting.